Does anyone know anything about theistic satanism or devil worship? I want to learn more about the dark side of “religion”. Is it possible to worship “Satan” and is “Satan” the same as “Lucifer”? Also are demons real? I know demon possession is a rare (if not nonexistent) thing but is demon worship worth looking into? I know this is a lot of questions but I can’t find answers anywhere else.
I am not a Satanist and therefore do not have all the answers, but in case no one else gets back to you here's some basic stuff I've been taught:
It is possible to worship Satan. Most worshippers I've met only believe in the devil as a concept, not an actual being. However, if you plan to worship Satan as a being, that's a different story. I think according to the Christian Bible, Lucifer was a fallen angel that later became Satan, so I would say that they are the same being. If you haven't already, try getting your hands on a copy of the Satanic Bible. Even if it's not the branch you're looking to practice, it's good to know about other branches of your religion, and it makes for an interesting read.
I don't personally believe in demons, but I know a lot of people who do. It's up to you whether or not they're incorporated into your practice. I'm not too sure if people worship demons, but I know people work with them. This is a lengthy and complicated subject area and may best be held off until you nail down the basics of Satanism. Not all demons are the same and while all are difficult to work with, some are more so than others.
I hope this helped some! If you have follow up questions I can try my best to answer them.
Do you know of any resources I could use to learn more about theistic satanism? I’ve read plenty about LaVey Satanism and it’s basically atheism with extra steps. I certainly believe there is a higher power than humans and I believe in practical magick so I couldn’t be a LaVey satanist. A lot of people won’t even touch this subject because of the satanic scares in the 80’s (which were completely fabricated).
I think silvie pretty much gave the gist of what Satanism is. Bravo!
Really there's a lot of debate within the Theistic Satanism community of what constitutes as "actual Satanism", because it encourages individualism among practitioners. Many people like to refer to Devil Worship as Reverse Christianity , but honestly most modern institutions of Satanism claim themselves to be independent of traditional Abrahamic Religions. Really there's no right or wrong way to be a Satanist. If you believe that Satan is an actual being and you would like to worship him, then go do your thing. If you believe Satan is symbolic of man's free will and stand against arbitrary authority, then you are also a Satanist. Theistic Satanism tends to involve more of the left-hand path, black magick (magick with intent to harm/attain selfish desire) , and ceremonial magick. Atheistic Satanism is obviously more political and conceptual than religious.
Down below I've copy/pasted some reference material on demon magick that was sent to me via mail a little while ago:
The Black Witch: The Grimoire of Demonic Tongue by Enoch B.Petrucelly
Unholy Goddesses of the Darkside by Daemon Barzai
Belial without a Master by varies authors.
Tree of Qliphoth by Tree of Qliphoth
The Book of Sitra Achra
It's also worth looking into these few resources as well:
The Satanic Temple Library - can be found here: https://thesatanictemple.com/pages/the-satanic-temple-library
And, of course, Anton Szandor Lavey's Satanic Bible. I'm sure you can find a .pdf version of everything listed here if you can't have hard copies.
If you are just starting out try S ,Connolly's books or Youtube,E A Koetting (books or YT or BALG forum)comes off like an infomercial but you can download all his stuff free too.Aleister Nacht(books and YT)sTAY AWAY FROM jOY OF sATAN .That should get you started.
I have knowledge of Satanism, both spiritual and non spiritual forms. Also, joy of Satan isn't really Satanism from what I recall. It's a group of people trying to rationalize and justify illegal acts with the young. One of the 9 satanic statements is don't harm little children.
Also, Satanism is more of an umbrella term , unless you follow Levay. Lucifer has it's own path, Satan as the devil has a path, many demons have a path like Leviathan or pick any number of demons.
